Research from Duke University elucidated a gut-brain communication path enabling real-time appetite regulation through detection of a microbial protein. Specialized colonic neuropod cells sense bacterial flagellin via Toll-like receptor 5, signaling to the brain via vagal neurons to suppress feeding. This mechanism, termed 'neurobiotic sense,' highlights the gut microbiota's direct influence on host behavior beyond immune responses. These findings, published in Nature, may inform therapeutic strategies targeting neuropods or microbial signals to regulate appetite and possibly other brain-gut interactions.